During a recent appearance on the “IMPAULSIVE” podcast with Logan Paul, John Cena was asked about whether he had envisioned becoming one of the greatest wrestlers of all time when he first started his career.
Cena began his journey in UPW in 1999 and progressed to Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2000. Two years later, he made his debut on WWE television.
Cena said, “There was a moment where I knew there was a possible path, and that was when I got my first contract. I’m very vocal about this, because of the times, it was height of the WCW-WWF wars where everyone was under contract because they didn’t want you going to the other place. It was like the .com war. You have a .com? I’ll buy it. My first contract was for $12,500 a year. I quit my job. I still lived in Los Angeles. I had to operate pretty lean. I didn’t have to, I chose to. In all the stories I tell, ‘I lived in my car,’ I did that by choice. I had a warm bed and roof over my head in Massachusetts. My dad is the most giving person to his sons, ‘You always have a home here, I’ll always take care of you.’ I wanted to do that. I chose to go through some hardships to be where I’m at. I quit because my philosophy was, ‘This is my job. I’m being paid, I’m a professional. This is my job. I will find a way to make it work because someone has bet on me and if I don’t let them down, I can inch forward. I did that. My second contract was for like $25,000. Then, they moved me to Kentucky, and it became $50,000. They moved me to TV and it became $75,000. Then, I ended up signing a better deal and a better deal.”
